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Neidan, or internal alchemy (traditional Chinese: 內丹術; simplified Chinese: 內丹术; pinyin: nèidān shù), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. [1]
Chinese alchemy can be divided into two methods of practice, waidan or "external alchemy" and neidan or "internal alchemy". Doctrine can be accessed to describe these methods in greater detail; the majority of Chinese alchemical sources can be found in the Daozang, the "Taoist Canon".
Neidan techniques included taixi ("embryonic respiration") breath control, meditation, visualization, sexual training, and daoyin exercises (which later evolved into qigong and tai chi), while waidan techniques for immortality included alchemical recipes, magic plants, rare minerals, herbal medicines, drugs, and dietetic techniques like inedia.
Chu (廚, lit. ' kitchen ') is a Daoist name used for various religious practices including communal chu (Kitchen) banquet rituals in Way of the Celestial Masters liturgy, the legendary xingchu (行廚, Mobile Kitchen) associated with Daoist xian ("transcendents; 'immortals'"), and wuchu (五廚, Five Kitchens) representing the wuzang (五臟, Five Viscera) in neidan meditation techniques.
Both Neidan, Neo-Confucianism and Traditional Chinese Medicine distinguish the between "pre heaven" (xiantian 先天), referring to what is innate or natural, and "post heaven" (houtian 後天), referring to what is acquired in the course of life. [7] [8] The former are the "three origins" (Sanyuan 三元): [6] "Original essence" (yuanjing 元精)
Chinese woodblock illustration of a waidan alchemical refining furnace, 1856 Waike tushuo 外科圖説 (Illustrated Manual of External Medicine). Waidan, translated as 'external alchemy' or 'external elixir', is the early branch of Chinese alchemy that focuses upon compounding elixirs of immortality by heating minerals, metals, and other natural substances in a luted crucible.
The Xingming guizhi (性命圭旨, Principles of Inner Nature and Vital Force) is a comprehensive Ming dynasty (1368-1644) text on neidan ("internal alchemy") self-cultivation techniques, which syncretistically quotes sources from the Three teachings of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism (particularly the Yogachara school), and is richly illustrated with over fifty illustrations that later ...
The Xiuzhen tu (simplified Chinese: 修真图; traditional Chinese: 修真圖; pinyin: Xiūzhēn tú; Wade–Giles: Hsiu-chen t'u) is a Daoist diagram of the human body illustrating the preventative Chinese medical principles called Neidan ' internal alchemy ', incorporating Chinese astrology, and cosmology. [1]